Future of Informix

Hi,
i am new to informix.i dont know abt Informix even a bit.I am
very confused abt this platform.Can any body suggest me how it
wud be and the future of it ,its big clients,top companies using
it etc.So that if i work on it then i wil not feel i spoiled my
future.

IBM did try to suppress the sales of Informix in an attempt to get
clients to purchase DB2 instead. They now have realised that the
International database communities still regard Informix with high
esteem and respect. This is evident as from the beginning of the year,
specialist teams that were working on DB2 projects, have now been
assigned to continue advanced development for Informix. One will see new
releases soon that will address much of the changing GIS issues required
around the would.
Some of the technical boffins are now working at companies like ESRI to
improve the product as a whole.

As one specialist put it:

GO FURTHER with DB2
GET THERE FASTER with Informix.

Informix is probably one of the most stable databases out there.
Performs excellently on unix platforms and offers some excellent
functionality.

The question you need to ask yourself is: For the work that you require
your database to do, do you need a "Rolls Royce" or a "Rover".

> Some of the technical boffins are now working at companies
> like ESRI to
> improve the product as a whole.

Does this mean ESRI has hired IBM Informix developers to improve IDS; or
does it mean ESRI has hired IBM Informix developers to help improve
ArcSDE? ESRI's spatial database technology - also known as ArcSDE - is
licensed to IBM as the Spatial Datablade. An overview of the Spatial
Datablade was discussed by Robert Uleman in a previous Chat with the
Lab:

I'm a huge fan of Informix and I am trying to promote it within ESRI as
much as possible.

> IBM did try to suppress the sales of Informix in an attempt to get
> clients to purchase DB2 instead. They now have realised that the
> International database communities still regard Informix with high
> esteem and respect. This is evident as from the beginning of the year,
> specialist teams that were working on DB2 projects, have now been
> assigned to continue advanced development for Informix.

To get a sense of the renewed commitment to Informix at IBM, listen to
the latest "Chat with the Lab" by Carlton Doe:

ESRI hires developers to improve their products and so does IBM. ArcSDE
belongs to ESRI and is not licensed to IBM as the spatial blade. Spatial
blade is an independent product of informix. So if you planning to use
the mentioned technology, you would need to purchase ArcSDE from ESRI
and Spatial Blade from IBM. Spatial blade, once registered with the
database, allows various additional data-types to be inserted into that
database. In order to use ArcSDE, you would need a database that
provides these spatial data-types (Informix, DB2, Oracle and MS-SQL are
the primary databases supported by ESRI).

With regards to Robert, he is one of the people now focusing more on
informix. ESRI employed an ex Informix developer to now work on
improving their products functionality with other vendors, like IBM's
products. There is also renewed discussions between IBM and ESRI to
ensure that they co-ordinate there efforts in producing software that
interacts correctly between these 2 companies.

To Sunil I would say, learn all that you can from any database
(Databasing makes up 60% plus of all IT). Informix, DB2, Oracle, MS-SQL
(probably the big 4 in the world today), have been around for a long
time. When you really start utilising your database to its maximun
capacity, only a few databases stand out as able to perform these tasks.
Informix is a true enterprise database Sunil, so learning how to use it
will be an advantage to have on your CV.

Hi,
ur information seems to be ok.But why i posted this question on the
groups is that i was asked to work on Informix in my comp where i was
trained on Cognos tools like ReportNet,frameworkmanager,Decision stream
and Powerplay. I said ok to work on Informix. But after coming to know abt
informix i decided not to work on informix.
no body suggest to leave cognos and work on some unknown
database like informix. Any way i ask u peoples suggestions also that
Cognos is better than informix to work.rite ?

The future of Informix is uncertain to me. My company is using Informix but
is moving to Microsoft Sequel Server. Microsoft Sequel Server has a much
better user interface.
Informix is lacking in that area.
Informix is fast but the user interface leaves a lot to be desired.

If you read my previous comments, you will see that Informix is not
unknown database. Cognos software requires one of the big 4 databases
(DB2, Informix, MS-SQL, Oracle) as a repository to store its data and
extract data from. To my knowledge, Cognos does not have their own
database but uses one of these 4 databases.
I could not agree with you that Cognos is better than Informix. To my
knowledge, these are 2 totally different pieces of software.
Looking at what you do, I think you will be safe in using any of the big
4 databases.

Hi peter
i too agreee that cognos dont have its own database .But it is a dataware
housing tool wich is competing in market with other tools.Then how any
body suggests to work on Database side where one works on Datawarehouse
wich is more extensive featuer than database.But i prefer Oracle or
Ms-sqlserver than this and i vote them first. Any way thanks for ur
valueble suggestions.

> Hi,
>
ArcSDE
> belongs to ESRI and is not licensed to IBM as the spatial
> blade.

Yes, you are correct up to a point. ArcSDE is owned by ESRI, the
Spatial Datablade TECHNOLOGY is licensed to IBM by ESRI.

Spatial
> blade is an independent product of informix. So if you planning to use
> the mentioned technology, you would need to purchase ArcSDE from ESRI
> and Spatial Blade from IBM.

Yes; however, the Spatial Datablade is a free download from IBM.

Spatial blade, once registered with the
> database, allows various additional data-types to be inserted
> into that
> database. In order to use ArcSDE, you would need a database that
> provides these spatial data-types (Informix, DB2, Oracle and
> MS-SQL are
> the primary databases supported by ESRI).
>
> With regards to Robert, he is one of the people now focusing more on
> informix. ESRI employed an ex Informix developer to now work on
> improving their products functionality with other vendors, like IBM's
> products. There is also renewed discussions between IBM and ESRI to
> ensure that they co-ordinate there efforts in producing software that
> interacts correctly between these 2 companies.
>
> To Sunil I would say, learn all that you can from any database
> (Databasing makes up 60% plus of all IT). Informix, DB2,
> Oracle, MS-SQL
> (probably the big 4 in the world today), have been around for a long
> time. When you really start utilising your database to its maximun
> capacity, only a few databases stand out as able to perform
> these tasks.
> Informix is a true enterprise database Sunil, so learning how
> to use it
> will be an advantage to have on your CV.
>
> Regards, Chaos

Thanks for that. To my knowledge, we pay through our ear for the blades
(web datablade, Excalibur, Spatial, Text), but did not know that the
spatial blade is free (You have solved a nice problem for me now).
When we spoke to Ed 'Catibah' in 1999, it was our understanding that
Spatial blade, written in conjunction with with ESRI, was Informix's.
But since you work for ESRI, I believe you.

Hi, Im using informix the last 15 years, since IBM buy the product, after two years of doubs, appear the release 10 with various (and usefull) improvementes, at the begining of 2007, was release the 11 version (Cheetah) with notorius improvements. The roadmap of the product is in the IBM site (if you believe in it). bye.

Hi
informix is one of the most advanced DB products. When Oracle or DB2 began their developement of info Cubes, informix already have the technology. Maybe Informix lacks of a usefull admin interface, but it is a really advanced db SW.
Sadly IBM just bought Informix. Hope IBM does not make the mistake of change the name of the product. Lotus Notes survive because IBM didn0t change the name and let the product development evolve.
Hope this helps